Aloha Means Batter Up!…

Alright, BF got me going on a Hawaii direction with his Tunnels Beach sunset yesterday. Given that there was a Giants day off, I figured why not look at the history of baseball in Hawaii?

The Hawaii Islanders were an AAA team from 1961 to 1988 in the PCL. They had originally been the Sacramento Solons, but then moved off the mainland to Honolulu. The Islanders originally were affiliated with the Athletics, then for a longer while the Angels, and actually drew a ton in their heyday — 400K fans saw them in 1970, leading the entire minors. Because of the distance from the mainland, the schedule was such that visiting teams made 4 to 7 game visits to Honolulu, and then the Islanders would do the same back on the mainland.

There are some pretty cool names associated with the Islanders. In the 1960’s their broadcaster was Harry Kalas, who then went to the mainland to be replaced by a familiar name — Hank Greenwald, who then went on to the Giants, succeeded in Honolulu by a guy named Al Michaels.

Later on, the Islanders became affiliated with the Pads, and then shortly before they closed down in the late 1980’s they were affiliated with the Pirates and the White Sox. They bagged Honolulu and moved to Colorado Springs in 1988 as the Sky Sox. Some noted alumni Islanders:

– Barry Bonds, hit .311 in 44 games in 1986, then got called up to the Pirates.

For an earlier history of pro baseball in Hawaii and a run down on the 1970 Islanders — rated #38 in the top 100 minor league teams of the 20th Century — check this link. http://www.milb.com/milb/history/top100.jsp?idx=38 Not sure how you could focus on baseball and learn some ball while you were living in such a paradise as Hawaii. That seems to be hard to do. Otherwise, Mahalo, Aloha and Go Giants!…

117 Responses

Although he came up with the dogers/phils and was never on the ‘Islanders’, he is called the “Flyin’ Hawaiian”.
He is past his best, but has a decent career, 2 kids, lives in Vegas in the off-season, a Branch Rickey Award and was an eagle scout.
Got his break when Aaron Rowand came to the Giants. Shane hit a playoff grand slam off CC Sabathia helping the phills get to the 2008 WS.

Barry Bonds must have been the first player in history to actually be bummed out when he got the call up to the big leagues. Can you imagine how much pussy the dude was pulling during that stint in Hawaii?
For those of you interested in a close race and a great longshot finisher, Edd has pulled within 2 pts of Blade in the Flap Fantasy League. Updated standings are posted to the right.

The old PCL must have been a dynamite league back in the day when AAA ball was top of the heap for minors. The A’s did a tribute to the old Oakland Oaks that I saw part of, and broadcasters talked to Ernie Broglio, who is from Oaktown. Great rivalries and plenty of talent–one of the things Broglio said was that some guys actually refused to sign a mlb contract and stayed in the PCL because they wound up making more money and had more fun with way less travel.

That was notably true of Artie Wilson, a shortstop who played with Willie Mays on the Birmingham Black Barons. Wilson made more money with the Oakland Oaks and San Diego Padres; even had some sort of salary dispute with MLB, the Yankees, I think.

Joe Torre has said that “”Winning creates chemistry more than the other way around,” , Reggie Jackson has said the same thing. Other players and managers disagaree.. Someone broughgt up Bonds and Kent. As Jason Schmidt has said, pretty much everybody else got along “and even Bonds and Kent didn’t get in each other’s way very often anyway.” Bob Gibson has said it’s overaeted.may ballplayers and coaches and managers have different opinions. It’s not an argument that Krukow will settle. As one writer put it, “It is baseball’s version of the chicken-and-egg conundrum. Which comes first, positive clubhouse chemistry or winning?”
There is simply no definitive answer…it’s just a good topic for civil debate.

For those who want to know: SF- Dbacks game tonight is the free one on MLB.com. It is now September so the whole HD TV package is now $10.00 which includes playoffs and WS, though I think the WS will be on regular TV in the USA.

Tonight’s free game starts at 9:40 EDT, 6:40 PDT, 02:40am BST 08:40 ICT and will be broadcast live from Phoenix, AZ.

Since the AS game the AZ team has been described as a dark horse in the NL West and one the Giants need to watch out for.

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Although we strive for accuracy, we’re not responsible for editorial or typographical errors.

Krukow talked about the chemistry thing for probably 3 minutes and he didn’t once mention anything about whether the players got along or not. He was talking about knowing each other, having common goals, knowing what to expect out of each other in any given situation, stuff like that….
And as I said at the time of The Worst trade in the History of Baseball, you can’t just throw 6 all stars together in August and expect it to be like pressing a button and seeing automatic returns. Maybe if they all played together in spring training they’d have a chance to have the chemistry Kruk’s spoke about.
Their collapse hasn’t surprised me in the least……

And many others who have spoken of chemistry weren’t talking about getting along, either. It was the chicken and the egg question: whether good chemistry breeds winning or winning breeds good chemistry.
As to the collapse, the magnitude of it is surprprising to me but losing Billingsley and Jansen didn’t help and Gonzales under performing was not antcipated. But I also criticized the wisdom of the trade at the time it was made, as did many others. I just don’t attribute their losing to poor chemistry, just poor performance.
But I understand the opposing view.

Had not read your post, Craig…was replying to Michael’s. That is the point I made…they do not have to like each other, but they need a common goal and want to move forward towards the realization of that goal.

A-Gone’s performance, as I said at the time, always had the possibility of failure. He put up some great numbers in San Diego where he had absolutely zero pressure on him. He was part of the collapse in Boston last year and clearly implicated in the dysfunction this year. Now he’s essentially the *260 million dollar man* and joining a team that is expecting to win it all with him leading the charge—that’s a lot of pressure. Maybe he’ll get used to handling it next year but it COULD EASILY be on of the reasons he’s underperformed so far in LA…….

Yes, it COULD be why. But whatever, it doesn’t address that chicken and egg question.But I’m happy they’ve collapsed and have very little concern as to the why. If anyone wants to put it on chemistry, fine.
I’m busy thinking about this year’s World Series dinner. Link to the right.

I actually went to a Hawaii Islanders game in the mid 80’s. I still have the program somewhere. Joe Charboneau played in that game after his fall from ROY status just a few years earlier. Mike Bielecki pitched and he was a hotshot frontline starter prospect at that point.
Living in SD, we used to hear and read lots of interesting stories about guys being “sent down” to Hawaii.

I once had a chance to go to Hawaii to help open a restaurant and stay on as chef. But I had to put my dog ( at the time it was Flo, a beautiful German Shepherd ) in quarantine,I think it was at least 30 days at the time, I don’t remember. Plus a whole lot of other hasssles. But the quarantine was the issue for me. I hear the chemistry is not real good in those faciities ;-)

Is team chemistry a little like mob intelligence? Once things start going a certain direction it is hard to stop.
I believe more in “team chemistry” in baseball than I do in momentum.

I really want to thank MAGNUS for yesterday’s topic. I wish I had commented, but I went through the photo album looking for a certain sunset picture I took and ended up finding some older pics I had not seen for years and suddenly it was four hours later. Very nice trip down memories lane that was.

Because I do need my beauty sleep, especially this week and with the stupid networks setting back the start of 2 games it feels like a month since I have watched a game live. So I am dead missing some game action.
Even though I am reading most of the comments on here after y’all have gone to bed, I am still laughing and getting a lift out of having them to read. Mucho gracias.

Good article on Posey. Stark is one of the most reasonable and West Coast savvy national baseball writers. Olney seems to barely know anything west of the Hudson, he’s a joke. Although, Stark’s article talked about Posey’s “knee” injury — that’s a little alarming for a guy that has an MVP vote. Maybe it was an editing error…

Snarkk, you mentioned Rocky Bridges. Holyshit, that guy had so much chaw he looked like Popeye. (So did Nellie Fox.) I’m depending on Twin or someone to hrow up a baseball card image illustrating this.

And, yes, I like Jayson Stark. He’s smart and witty. Fun to read. Ok. Ok, I’m biased. He took a chance with me. Like Len Berman, without knowing me in the least, gave me a great blurb. Maybe because they are both SU alums, and I live in Syracuse (Le Moyne College grad, not SU).

Twin, Do you know of a obscure stat of a pitcher getting nailed a few times on the mound.and the manager has to check on him,leaves him in the game without having a mound visit charge? Some Piniata pitcher holds the record somewhere right?

I’ve given up on understanding Pablo in the 3 hole. He hasn’t hit a dinger in over 2 months. He swings at everything, and is very susceptible to the DP. Posey is hitting at a historic clip and an alternative universe OPS, he should be getting as many PAs as possible…

I think, at this point, they’re so far in front of the Dodgers that they can afford to absorb more Panda starts at 3rd and in the 3 hole. I mean, he’s not gonna figure it out from the bench. He never did come out of his funk in 2010 and maybe the same thing will happen this year but there really isn’t much risked if he stays where he’s at. This race is over.

I get that BF, kind of. But, in the POs, he’s going to be facing top shelf pitching every AB. If Bochy thinks he can jump start him into hitting better by just leaving him there, OK, it might work. What if he’s hitting .270 and his .slg is still under .300 on Sept 30? It probably wouldn’t be good to move him down to 6 or 7 then. I hope he snaps out of it, but 2010 is precedent given the shape he’s in, plus we have no idea if the wrist is still an issue…

He seems to have multiple issues. Wrist, hammy, belly….I think Bochy keeps rolling with him for at least another 10 days or so, maybe longer. He could even wait till the playoffs and throw Arias in there, the dude always seems ready to go.
Disappointed not to see Nady in there, I had hoped too. He’s been better than anything else we’ve had in LF since Melky went away. At least we get some awesome defense out there. Blanco’s actually been pretty good lately.

Flav–I’m doubtful for the next Flapalooza, but let me know about it just in case. Tell your pops I said hello. I’m playing 18 at Balboa Park tomorrow. It ain’t Green Freaking Hills, but its not a bad alternative.

Bummer. We’ll take pictures and tweet them to you. I haven’t discussed a date with Blade but he’ll be in town from the 26th thru the 16th— I could see Sat the 29th at 5:35pm working for me (hooking up at a bar to watch it).

I’d be focused on a playoff game, a Flapalooza would be fine for that. ;)
Make your plans for whenever the most can come. I just know I’ll be out of the Bay Area mid to late that week, 50-50 back by Saturday…

I’m going to Tampa 9/27 – 10/2 to hawk my book, then I’ve got some decisions to make. Catch the Giants somewhere in the playoffs? Or hold my cards and wait for a WS? If the latter, I’d go to SF, with or without tix, almost no matter the cost. In a New Yawk minute. The place was fuckn electric last time. Plus, Magnus says he’ll give me more New Orleans-type beads. (WTF are they redeemable for in SF, though?)

Pawlie, there is a loyal baseball presence here called the BBF, which I thought stood for Berra’s Bombers Flap? They have leagues from adult rec (A League) up to the pro-level National Baseball League and, of course, the GB national team currently losing at the European Championships.
Even an Old Timers’ Club with Honorary Life President, Bob Feller.
The NBL championships were 2 weeks ago, so we may have missed our window of opportunity. I purchaced my copy of ‘Baseball’s Starry Night’, authored by Paul Kocak and currently in stock and available at Amazon UK for £7.38 see review here: http://goo.gl/0nkwv

The town is named after the Wulfrun family c900s and the local school, founded by King Henry VIII (sortof) in 1500s so townsfolk and students were called Wulfrunians. So are the sports teams, but I would hav echosen Wolverines, wouldn’t you?

Yeah, I was being satirical with tongue in cheek, meaning: what is so bad about him doing that when he gets a hit. Another example of “no one complains when Pablo is hitting.” I followed up with the comment about Cain taking three tries to get home, one try being on the Sandoval single where most runners would have made it.

There are still many people who think he should hit like a “normal” guy. He is always going to have stretches when he looks horrible at the plate. On that level he needs to be left alone, IMO. His continuing conditioning issues are another matter.

IMO baseball players used to be born, not made. Guys like Ruth, Mays, Bench, Seaver. Today they are athletes and conditioning will always matter. I have always been a big guy, but I always believed aerobics and flexibility were important no matter what my size. It just seems logical.

I know Pence is always in an RBI spot but it would be interesting to see what his RBI numbers project out to over the course of a season with us. It’s gotta be around 110-120. We’re eating dinner, maybe one of you guys can find that one. Otherwise, I’ll check it when we’re done.

Well, it appears everyone thinks this is a no-brainer winning game and none of ya’ll Flappers wanna post any amusing thoughts.?
Okay
I want you to hold that chicken between your knees. Seriously. Would I bullshit ya’ll? Hell you’re my favorite turds. Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown and what we have here is… failure to communicate and I am not an animal at least I tried and frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn cuz they told me to come here for the waters and I was misinformed and….

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Post of the Day!

Bozo said, on July 31, 2015 at 9:40 am (Edit)
Deion was still with Atlanta, he’d already taken a beer to the face when going for a foul ball. Instead of playing catch before the inning started, a kid dropped a ball, he picked it up and signed it and spent the rest of his warm-up time signing balls. No more beer was thrown at him but he was out on the field when all those balls started flying from the stands. The umps almost forfeited the game to the Braves. We came back from being down by 5 runs twice (? or was it three times), an amazing day.
I know it was kind of fucked up for all those baseball being thrown from the stands (including the upper deck), but strangely, I found it to be a beautiful thing.